You surely know that there are other Kensingtons out there. What you might not know is that there are a lot of Kensingtons out there.

You’re probably aware of the Kensington part of London, England, which is where our name is drawn from, but did you know there are other Kensingtons spread across the United States?

Our town of 5,000 is smack dab in the middle of the San Francisco Bay area. Most of those other Kensingtons are not so lucky. But let’s hop into our virtual car anyway and take a tour of some of them. You never know what we’ll discover!

Kensington, San Diego, California

We don’t have to travel far to reach our first Kensington. This is a neighborhood in San Diego, adjacent to Normal Heights and City Heights. Adams Avenue is the cultural center of the community, which is heavily influenced by British cultural, hence its name. It’s not a city in its own right, of course, but as a fellow California community we thought it was worth mentioning.

Kensington, Connecticut

Technically a part of Berlin Township, this community of 8,000 people is home to the famous Henry Hooker house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Berlin, which was settled in the late 1700s, is split between Kensington and its sister hamlet, East Berlin.

Kensington, Kansas

The City of Kensington, Kansas is rather generously called a city, considering its population of just 473. Founded in 1887 as part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, the town is just .36 square miles and has a population that rarely rises about 500. Doesn’t get much smaller than that.

Kensington, Maryland

This town of 2,200 in Maryland was largely an agricultural community until the railroad built it into a bedroom community of commuters who work outside of town.

World Book Day in the United States is celebrated here, and the town hosts farmers markets that draw people from throughout the region. There isn’t really any tourism here, but it’s a nice little community to visit all the same.

Kensington, Michigan

Kensington, Michigan is an interesting case in that it’s a community that doesn’t actually exist anymore. It used to be a village in Oakland County – another Kensington near another Oakland, quite a coincidence – but when a railroad constructed in 1871 skirted around the community, the village essentially withered away and died.

By 1905, only four families remained in the village. By 1950, it was leveled to construct a highway. A sad end to a town with a great name.

The interesting thing about these other Kensingtons is that we’re only just scratching the surface. There are many others across the United States, and even in other parts of the world. If you enjoyed this, maybe in future articles we’ll explore them, too.